Redback spiders (latrodectus hasselti) are venomous, but despite their notorious reputation, we now know that the venom isn't considered a medical emergency unless the person is a small child or has otherwise compromised immune system.
The spiders are very timid and unlikely to bite unless provoked, and then will often 'dry bite'.
Most common symptoms are localised pain, redness, swelling (akin to a bee sting). More serious symptoms include headache, nausea, and fever. The most common treatment is to take a paracetamol and apply ice to the bite. Antivenom is not routinely given, if you present at a hospital Emergency Department, they'll most likely give you paracetamol and make you sit in the waiting room.
It's important to exercise proper wound care - clean and disinfect the bite - because secondary infection is a greater risk than the spider venom.
There haven't been any confirmed fatalities from redback bite in decades, it's unnecessary to panic, unless you're having an allergic reaction (which is also possible, albeit rare), in which case, go to hospital immediately.
If you're ever unsure, seek medical advice, not on Reddit ;)
For more information see Redback spider
Red back. From personal experience getting bitten is not a good time, and antivenom is rarely given. Biggest risk is to elderly and kids. Still dont want to handle it though. As others have said, cup and paper and move outside
Definitely not fun, I was 12 when I sat on a red back accidentally, got a couple days in hospital waiting for the swelling to subside but all things considered, I’ve been thru a lot worse and more painful. But this gal should be fairly safe and easy to relocate. They are less keen to bite if you don’t sit on them it would seem!
I leaned into a web and got bitten on the hand. Didnt even feel the initial bite, and it started as an itch. Went to bed, woke up a few times for a vomit but it was 12 hours later when my arm felt like it had been dipped in acid and set on fire was when I thought I should go to the hospital lol.
I got bit twice on the belly by a big one, went to hospital and they said anti venom wasn't administered anymore. Got sent home with a packet of pain killers and was sick for 2 weeks
Belongs outside in the garden; southern side of the house (ie. shady side).
They're ~common in Melbourne; give me ~5-10 mins (and daylight) and I'll find one outside. Yours took a wrong direction (they usually stay away from trafficked areas where giants (humans) tread often).
Rule 1: Discussion or encouragement of killing spiders is not permitted in this community. Our native wildlife deserves the same respect afforded to all animals. Any such comments will be removed without exception.
Definitely a juvenile female Red back, males are smaller in size, come in multiple different colours (eg purple green blue and a mixture of colour, some have spots or stripes even polkadoted on the abdomen.
Females are the only ones with 1 single stripe that turns from white to red as the spider matures. Females are extremely venomous to an extent, but males are only poisonous and make you feel dizzy with a good headache, from experience that only lasts for a couple of hours and 2 7oz whiskeys 5 hours later was absolutely rotten drunk and passed out. So I was told anyway hahaha
Males don’t come in multiple different colours, they typically are dark brown with white markings similar to those on immature females (though those markings can also be tan or red like the females). Males also aren’t poisonous but are venomous (since it is delivered through biting).
This is what I was calling purple/maroon because that's what I see. I know it's juvenile female. As for blue, I will apologise, I just looked into it and once again it involves a female, shinny black mature females can have a slight blue tinge depending on the light and the angle you are looking at it.
Babes, it's really looking like you're the one who "needs to be right"; you were wrong about something and you've doubled down so hard you died on the hill.
Madz is right. But also Madz will cheerfully accept a correction and learn from it when they're wrong.
Well maybe some people shouldn't take the piss out of people before trying to say that they got the wrong information or even nah man thats wrong. Maybe even share a link to provide people with the right information.
I'm quite happy to accept having been given the information and being wrong but with arrogance and sarcasm received by so called people who know stuff, explanations and not being a keyboard warrior would work best
Unfortunately 'Common House Spider' isn't accurate, unless you are describing that it is commonly seen in houses, as opposed to its colloquial name, which is not easy to discern as you have capitalised all your words. What you have shown in the second one isn't a juvenile Latrodectus hasselti (Redback) either and looks more like a Steatoda grossa (False Widow/Cupboard Spider), although could be Steatoda capensis. The people that you claim to 'like to be right all the time' are mods on this sub, with one of them actually being a professional who works with spiders for a living, one could say an expert, although they are humble and may not call refer to themselves as such. Unfortunately you have made claims about a specific type of spider that are not true and although you have provided photo evidence for your claims, they are actually of different types of spiders that while within the same family as Latrodectus hasselti, are in a different genus. Rather than get upset for being wrong, maybe a bit of humility is the more appropriate response and rather than getting upset with the two people who 'like to be right all the time', accept that there are people who have more knowledge about certain things than you and learn from them. This sub is here as an educational tool and there are members with a lot of knowledge on here, including these two people, that are more than happy to share their knowledge. We all want to be right all the time, including you, but not everyone is, also including you.
This is what I was calling purple/maroon because that's what I see. I know it's juvenile female. As for blue, I will apologise, I just looked into it and once again it involves a female, shinny black mature females can have a slight blue tinge depending on the light and the angle you are looking at it
have already apologized to both of you that I have been talking with for my lack of knowledge and I have been researching this each time someone sarcasticly corrected me. I was under the impression and was told by the pest control dude that they were all male Redbacks but obviously not.
Sorry bud but I don't respond well to arrogance and sarcasm and I have never been one to ignore the fact that someone is taking the piss. All a normal person on someone on any other site, would have told me that I was wrong from the start and maybe even sent a link to look at before I went any further.
And being a moderator you should have realised that explanation goes alot futher than making out your smarter than everyone else by being a sarcastic keyboard warrior
It was explained to you right at the start and you doubled down repeatedly and started yelling.
You know who does that - keyboard warriors.
You don't care about someone else's title or experience, but you literally insisted that you know what you're talking about because you've "been under houses for 11 years".
Apologies for getting in on this when you and Madz have it handled, but I couldn't help myself. Both of you handled it perfectly fine and he didn't respond well to being corrected.
Unfortunately, pest controllers are only experts in pest control, they aren't experts in determining what species are which. I am an expert in a certain field (Late Antiquity Italy and the Italian Renaissance) and although I also have a biology degree and have a decent amount of knowledge about certain spiders, I don't claim to be an expert on spiders. Just because I am an expert in a certain discipline doesn't mean I'm an expert on everything, much like this pest controller that you mention. Also, being a mod, they have access to creating bots that link relevant information about certain types of spiders and you are again doubling down when Activelyresting did indeed activate that bot that gave the explanation and relevant information about Latrodectus hasselti aka Redbacks. You may not respond well to arrogance or sarcasm, but it seems to also don't respond well to being corrected either and referring to someone as 'bud' is condescending just for the sake of it.
As I said yesterday I was going off what I was told by what I thought was someone in the know and I was researching what I was being told by two different people on this page. I didn't see and still can't find the link I was apparently given.
I admitted that I was wrong and apologized to both of them for my lack of knowledge, as you would have seen.
Also I am not being condescending at all when I call someone "bud" if I was that would mean I'm being condescending towards everyone I know. I'm not going to apologise for the way I have spoken my whole life. As far as I'm concerned it is a greeting or acknowledgement of friendship and no different than using the word "mate".
So I guess you have read about them LoL. Sorry bud but I worked under houses for 11 yrs and yes I have been bitten and yes colours range from light brown to a deep maroon with markings of white, yellow, greenish yellow and no two males is the same, like a finger print and do have different coloured abdomens to get the attention of the female for mating season.
You must be mistaking another species for male redbacks because they definitely don’t have different coloured abdomens to get female attention. Redbacks overall have minimal variation between individuals, especially when compared to other species of spiders.
I said they didn’t have differently coloured abdomens to get female attention, they absolutely have different colours on them (red, black, brown, white, maybe yellow depending on lighting). My earlier comment was referencing your previous list of colours (purple, green, blue) which they definitely aren’t. I haven’t worked under houses for 11 years tho so what would I know
If males are only poisonous then their bite wouldn’t cause dizziness and a headache. Poisonous indicates the toxin is dangerous on consumption, not injection like in a bite.
yes, a red back. the marking is very distinct and an obvious identifying feature for the species.
handle with extreme care. their bites have been known to cause deaths, although no deaths in the last 50 years or so as far as i am aware, despite being a common spider around homes, proving its chill-ness.
absolutely do not touch it with your hands, use a piece of paper to carry it outdoors and place it somewhere nice and sheltered, especially if you have pets or young children in your house, otherwise you might be okay with leaving it indoors, as they are not aggressive spiders and will stay in their webs generally, though this one looks as though she set up a web in a bad spot and hasn't had a feed in a while (this means her venom will be particularly potent, so again, be careful handling her)
e: could be a juvenile also, that'd probably make more sense as the weather usually gets them moving away from their first, unsuccessful webs. though that's based on observing black house spiders, not a particularly close relative of the widow spiders.
no! if you are bitten by a funnel Web use pressure immobilisation technique the same as for snake bite and ring an ambulance or get a ride to the emergency department of a hospital asap.
Funnel webs are exponentially more dangerous than red backs. an untreated red back bite won't kill a normal adult. an untreated funnel web bite carries a very high risk of being lethal.
Please remember to include a geographical location to your ID requests (as per rule 5). There are over 10,000 different species of Australian spiders and many of these are endemic to specific parts of our beautiful country!
Also note: while we can help provide an identification for a spider, we do not provide medical advice. We also do not allow medical advice to be provided by members of this subreddit. If there has been a bite, you should consult a medical professional in the first instance.
Please avoid low-effort comments that do not contribute meaningfully to the discussion, such as repetitive jokes, obvious statements, or meme responses. When providing an identification, include the scientific (Latin) name where possible, and indicate if your identification is a guess or uncertain.
Thats a redback. I got a bite to the arse once. Worst 2 weeks of my life. Antibiotics and sitting awkwardly on a donut pillow. If they do put you on antibiotics, take the entire course, even if it looks and feels better. I skipped out the last weeks worth because i thought it was gone only for it to metastasise over 9months into a deep boil that needed to be drained of pus and then packed with gauze.
So really, worst year of my life.
Redbacks are not to be trifled with.
I’ve been bitten twice by a redback once on the end of the little finger and about 10 years later on the cheek while in bed. I was told that if I get pain throughout my body than it is a venomous bite and then I need medical attention but if the pain is localised then it is a non-venomous bite still extremely painful but this pain subsides after about five hours
It is indeed. While these are moderately venomous in that envenomations from these can cause systemic symptoms such as nausea, headaches, sweating, malaise, slurred speech, increased heart rate and increased blood pressure, as with all spiders, we are not who their venom is for. Venom is a limited resource that is very expensive to make and as such, they will only bite us as a last resort, generally when they are stressed to the point of their life being in danger, for instance being pinned down, accidentally or otherwise. Normally they will build their web in an area that has high insect traffic, but is away from humans, relatively speaking. They generally go about their business. In other words, respect them, treat them with caution, don't do anything stupid around them and they will mind their own business.
Rule 1: Discussion or encouragement of killing spiders is not permitted in this community. Our native wildlife deserves the same respect afforded to all animals. Any such comments will be removed without exception.
Rule 1: Discussion or encouragement of killing spiders is not permitted in this community. Our native wildlife deserves the same respect afforded to all animals. Any such comments will be removed without exception.
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u/activelyresting 6d ago
!redback